Carrion Woods pretender setup

[Cainehill]

With a CW CD, the early expansion (pre-turn ... 10 to 15, depending on independents) is fueled by the carrion dragon. Since gold is always an issue for CW, I never buy any living troops that aren't mages.

So, my scales (I tried others in about 15 MP games as CW) tend to be Turmoil-3, Sloth-3, Heat/Cold-3, Growth-1, Magic-3. Luck varies but I never take misfortune, because CW's national heroes are too good. I don't go past Growth-1 because the higher growth increases how fast the population dies, without having significant enough an effect on the rise of carrion critter freespawns - better to take magic or a higher base dominion, imo.

To build up an army capable of expansion without the CD, I often prophetize the starting centaur commander - this helps spread dominion from the get-go, and also lets him summon 3 carrion cuddlies each turn. (The alternative is to prophetize a Panic Apostate to reduce upkeep on it, but then you don't raise carrion because you need the research more.)